Design For Change

Monday, January 12, 2015

Celebrations & Recognition

The eventful year of 2014 saw two marvelous celebrations of the power of children, manifested in the “Be The Change” conference which took place in Ahmedabad, India and the “Sea Of Change” held in Taipei, Taiwan.

The Be The Change conference was a stunning example of the fact that it does not matter how old you are or which part of the world you come from, as

long as you believe that you CAN, change will happen. The average age of the child attendee at this 2 day conference was only 14 years, and the attendees came from 22 countries across the globe. All these inspiring superheroes lit up the stage with their magnificent presence, sharing with a crowd of more than 500 people the inspiration that drives them, how they dealt with the hurdles and what they took away from participating in DFC.

Both the days of the conference radiated ounces of energy, so much so that it was nearly impossible to spot a single face that left the space without a wide smile on their face or tears in their eyes. This year, Design For Change really proved the power of celebration and collaboration. To make this BTC grand, we saw masterclasses by some of the most brilliant personalities in their respective fields. The highlight would definitely be Abhijat Joshi (filmwriter), Jaaved Jaffrey (actor) and Arnab Choudhary (film-maker, animator) at the BTC celebration. The three of them shared how important it is for them to remember the “I Can” spirit especially because of the industry they work in. Despite tremendous failures and innumerable opportunities where they could have let of the “right” thing to gain a little more fame or wealth, they stayed true to their values. Although the three of them are really distinct personalities, the one thing they agreed on was how the kids at the conference have reignited

hope in them and how proud they are to endorse the spirit of Design For Change. The one thing we can all never forget, however, is Jaaved Jaffrey’s little stand-up comedy act that wrapped up that masterclass.

There were endless more memories I’m sure - the tea break conversations, clicking selfies with the celebrities, marvelling at brilliant graffiti art in the making, the Parle-G installation that took various shapes and sizes, the mind blowing performance by Dhaaravi Rocks! Catch glimpses of the celebrations here.

The first ever Sea Of Change conference was an unimaginable success. With a whopping attendance of 800 people, it was a “true celebration of children, culture and change,” says Kiran Bir Sethi. The stories that were highlighted in the conference were nothing but inspiring and DFC Taiwan made it marvelous by inviting some very inspiring personalities to interact with the attendees.

Mr. Candle, who is a performer in Taiwan, shared with the kids the importance of grit and courage in anything they do. David Liu, who is an ex-animator from

Disney and has contributed to the production of The Lion King, Mulan and various other renowned films, shared with everyone the importance of imagination in the marriage of his passion, compassion and competence. Another important personality at this conference was Mr Lin, a Taiwanese educationalist, who truly exhibits the fact that action is the most important thing to create change.

A 113 children had the pleasure of attending this event, and truly learnt to appreciate each other as superheroes. At both, the BTC and SOC, every child was made to feel not only recognised for their talent, determination, creativity and good work, but they felt like real SUPERHEROES. Therefore my friends, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!Watch the opening video of the conference here.